US probes troops in Iraq rape-murder case

BAGHDAD - US soldiers may have raped an Iraqi woman and then murdered her and three members of her family, including a child, US army officers said today.

Confirming another major investigation into alleged killing and abuse of Iraqi civilians by at least three US troops, one official said the incident in March just south of Baghdad had initially been blamed on insurgents active in the area.

The probe is the latest in a series in recent weeks since the revelation of investigations into the killings of 24 people at Haditha in November. Commanders are cracking down on rogue soldiers in a bid to regain the trust of ordinary Iraqis and of their new government after three years of growing resentment.

Officers said a criminal probe was launched on June 24 into whether soldiers killed four people in their home at Mahmudiya on March 12. Police in the district said they could not recall a case meeting the description given by the US military.

Major General James Thurman, the commander of the Baghdad area, ordered the army's Criminal Investigation Command to mount the full investigation within a day of two soldiers coming forward, the military said in its brief initial statement.

"We're not going to leave any stone unturned," US military spokesman Major Todd Breasseale said in Baghdad.

In Washington, an army official said the suspicion was that two soldiers from the 502nd Infantry Regiment, later seen with blood on their uniforms, had raped a young woman and then one of them had killed her and three of her family, among them a child.

At least one other soldier was being investigated.

The suspected killer had been discharged from the army and was in the United States. Officials have said in similar cases that discharged soldiers can be recalled to face court martial.

Mahmudiya, a small dusty town surrounded by farmland where Sunni insurgents maintain rear bases, lies in the "triangle of death", an area of mixed population south of the capital where many US troops have died in combat over the past two years.

Two weeks ago, three soldiers from the 502nd were killed by insurgents at nearby Yusufiya, two of them after being captured.

Word of rape risks causing greater outrage than even murder among Iraqis, whose welcome for the Americans who ousted Saddam Hussein was giving way to irritation with occupation even before the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal soured their mood in 2004.

Last week, 12 American troops were charged with murder in two separate cases of killing civilians and another was charged with voluntary manslaughter in a third. Charges are expected to be brought soon in the Haditha case.

With the newly formed Iraqi government publicly calling for US troops to be held accountable, the military says it will ensure troops avoid killing civilians in all circumstances.

Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, appointed as the second-ranking US commander in Iraq in January, is credited by fellow officers with seeking to tighten procedures to prevent further alienating more of the population: "Chiarelli is committed to cleaning house and being transparent," one said.

Washington hopes to leave a pro-American Iraq once its troops leave and seems keen to repair damage to its image.

New Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has called for US troops to be held to account and said his patience was wearing thin.

Maliki will leave tomorrow for a tour of Gulf Arab states -- his first foreign trip since being confirmed at the head of a unity government six weeks ago. Significantly, the Shi'ite Islamist will discuss security in Saudi Arabia, after visiting Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, an aide said.

Home of the strict Sunni Islam espoused by al Qaeda and other insurgents in Iraq, Saudi Arabia is also home to many of the foreign fighters pledged to the destruction of Iraq's Shi'ite majority and of the US-backed government.

Maliki, whose predecessor favoured Shi'ite, non-Arab Iran with his first foreign trip, reached out to Sunnis in a national reconciliation plan this week. He will also be discussing investment with the wealthy Gulf monarchies, an aide said.

- REUTERS